10 notorious cars from the Petersen Museum vault

Underneath the spotless black marble floor that covers the halls of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles lies a subterranean lair where cars sit patiently, awaiting their turn in the spotlight. Here are a few of the high-profile vehicles.

By Popular Mechanics

on April 12, 2013 10:32 AM

Photo: Popular Mechanics

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Saddam Hussein's 1978 Mercedes-Benz 600 Landaulet

Built from 1963 through 1981 in small numbers, Mercedes-Benz 600s were some of the finest and most advanced sedans of their time. The Landaulet versions of the cars were the most rare, and used primarily by heads of state. They had a solid roof above the driver and convertible tops that retracted upon the rest of the cabin so the crowds could see the passengers clearly as it drove by.

The vents on the sides of the bodywork in the rear drew air for the air conditioner, which was installed in the trunk. This dubious 600 belonged to Saddam Hussein until his overthrow in 2003. An Iraqi drove the beat-up Mercedes out of the country and eventually into Jordan. A Jordanian car collector who also lives in the U.S. pointed museum staff to the car's location at the Mercedes-Benz distributor in Jordan. Why so many dents? Apparently, once the guards were through with their duties for the day they would sit on the trunk with their rifle butts on the metal.

Many credit Bruce Meyers with the invention of the dune buggy. To be sure, his classic VW-based, fiberglass-bodied, swoopy-lined Manx is the dune buggy we all picture. But the Empi Sportster was the very first production buggy kit. Empi was a major mail-order supplier of VW performance parts, and around 1960 the company decided to create a kit to make VW Beetles off-road-worthy.

The kit used steel tubes and metal bodywork with angular lines that look nothing like the Meyers Manx buggies. One look at those flat fenders and you can see the Sportster was inspired by the Jeeps of the day. Sportsters are rare. The Petersen Museum obtained this one from a retired prizefighter in Riverside, Calif.

This oddball three-wheeled car uses an aluminum body with a one-piece removable fiberglass hardtop, and receives power from an industrial Hercules four-cylinder engine. It is one of fewer than 20 cars built by startup Davis in Van Nuys, Calif., all of which were assembled in an airplane hanger.

The car company is notorious because, though founder Gary Davis maintained his innocence, he allegedly took customer and dealer deposit money without delivering any vehicles. He was eventually convicted of fraud. Perhaps it's good that Davis built only a handful of these cars. With just one wheel up front, they are exceedingly unstable. While the car is parked a person can rock the car nearly over onto its side. It's probably terrifying to drive.

The V-16 in this 1923 Ford T-Bucket hot rod was built in the early 1990s by joining two Chevrolet 350 V-8s together at the crankshaft. Reportedly, just two of the monster motors were ever built, and this is the only one ever installed in a car.

The folks at the Petersen Museum estimate the 700-cid V-16 produces 550 hp and 550 lb-ft of torque. The Mathon is one of the wildest cars in the vault. It sits on an extremely stretched chassis to make room for the double-length engine. We can only imagine what this crazy engine sounds like when it's idling, much less at full throttle.

Hot Rod Built for a story that ran over three issues of Hot Rod magazine, this futuristic XR-6 was constructed with the help of several custom-car greats, including George Barris of Batmobile fame. The car takes its name in part from a six-cylinder engine installed up front. That in itself is a bit strange, considering just about every performance car in America at the time had a V-8. But this 6 was hot-rodded and had a performance Weber triple-carburetor setup.

The odd-looking car, which uses a VW Beetle front suspension, clearly takes design inspiration from the jet age, and there are asymmetrical design cues throughout the car. The driver's seatback is raised slightly more than the passenger seat, the gauges are offset, and the hood scoop is installed only on the driver's side.

1963 XR-6
Hot Rod Built for a story that ran over three... Photo-4461261.60270 - Houston Chronicle

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1998 Cadillac Popemobile

This is one of the few open-top pontiff-carriers constructed on a modern chassis. GM Mexico built it for Pope John Paul II to use for his trip to give a speech at the Estadio Azteca, a stadium in Mexico City. But he never actually rode in the Cadillac, presumably because of the security concerns of the open design.

However, the Pope did bless the car upon that visit. Oddly, the car's construction was completed by both American limo company Eureka and Ford tuning specialist Roush Performance. The Petersen guesses that GM Mexico simply needed additional technical expertise in the assembly. The papal seat sits on a hydraulic system that can raise or lower the seat by up to 20 inches. The passenger doors open and steps fold down to ease the pope's entrance.

1998 Cadillac Popemobile
This is one of the few open-top... Photo-4461266.60270 - Houston Chronicle

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1927 Pedroso

In the late 1920s, the story goes, the Marquis de Pedroso, a wealthy Spaniard living in France, decided to build his own sports car. Pedroso wanted to build the car of his dreams, so he designed a unique supercharged straight eight, ignition timing that was adjustable from the dash, and a smart chassis that was underslung in the rear portion to bring the passenger compartment closer to the ground for a sportier feel. Pedroso was reportedly so eager to drive his new car that he took two wicker seats from his patio and had them fitted to the machine.

Later he covered them with canvas and they are still in the car today. Only two Pedrosos were ever built and this is the only one that survived. But the Petersen Museum received the Pedroso about a dozen years ago with full blueprints. So, theoretically, one day another could be built.

1927 Pedroso
In the late 1920s, the story goes, the Marquis... Photo-4461269.60270 - Houston Chronicle

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1967 "Boothill Express" Hot Rod

The late 1960s hot-rodders created some loony show cars. Ray Fahmer built some of the wildest ones, like the Boothill Express. It's essentially a hot-rodded funeral coach from the 1800s. And it gets its name because the coach upon which it is based reportedly carried a James Gang member to his resting place at the Boothill graveyard in Tombstone, Ariz.

The supercharged Chrysler 462 Hemi V-8 sits right in the center of the vehicle and expels exhaust through eight pipes routed underneath the rear axle. And like many of the wildest hot rods of the 1960s, Boothill Express was immortalized as a Monogram model kit for kids.

This car was built to be a technological proving ground. It was one of the first experiments with fiberglass construction on a large-scale car. It has an experimental "Y Block" V-8 under its hood. Ford also used it to experiment with air conditioning: The rear-mounted a/c would, in theory, generate cool air, piped up through the rearmost roof pillars and through perforations in the headliner to cascade down over occupants.

That's the reason for the two lumps on either side of the trunklid. The air-conditioning evaporators were so big that they took up a lot of the car's trunk space. To claim some back for luggage, engineers put the gas tank under one lump and the spare tire under the other lump. It was brilliant for packaging all these components, but not so great for safety. The D-528 was also Ford's first pillarless hardtop.

What appears to be a B-pillar along the side windows is actually an experimental roll bar. Once its time with Ford was through, the outdated concept car was delivered to George Barris's custom shop—on the same day as the Lincoln Futura that Barris transformed into the 60s Batmobile. Instead of fighting crime, the D-528 ended up in movies like Patsy, a 1964 Jerry Lewis film.

1955 Mercury D-528 Concept
This car was built to be a... Photo-4461251.60270 - Houston Chronicle

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1925 Rolls Royce Phantom I

Pre-WWII Rolls Royce cars are rare and sought-after machines. The chassis of these cars are so robust they often outlasted the bodies that came with them. This one was rebodied in 1934 with incredible aerodynamic coachwork by Jonckheere in Belgium—a company that today builds commercial buses.

A Rolls Royce is already a long car, but this chassis had to be further stretched to accommodate the wild fastback bodywork. The rear portion has an 18-inch central fin along with rows of louvres that extend down the back. Those vents would suggest that the car was rear-engined. It's not—there's a big straight six up front. For such a huge machine, there isn't much room on the inside.

Yet there is plenty of theater involved when you open the doors; they are not only round but also rear-hinged, opening suicide-style. And the windows roll down in a beautiful fan pattern. It's unusual and exceptionally cool.